My criticism of Giroud as a player aside, you have to say he’s a fantastic underdog story. A guy that was playing in Ligue 2 until he was 25, that ends up being a mediocre striker for Arsenal and scores some truly memorable goals, that’s a pretty improbable story and career arch, so I can forgive him the emotion tbh. To find himself winning anything, no matter how stupid or arbitrary it is, in a gala like that, filled with the best in football, is a minor miracle, so I can understand him feeling very proud.

Also, I should like to point out that Giroud has now played a pivotal role in two of the best goals ever scored in the PL as well as one of the best in the CL.

An average player can’t just fluke that.

Of course an average player can fluke like that–there’s nothing incompatible about being average or even shit and having some incredible moments, look at Andy Carroll or even Denilson who scored some crackers from range–especially if he is leading the line for Arsenal for 4 years. What’s more, a mediocre or worse player can fluke like that, which is what Giroud is.

He’s a player who is a negative in terms of defending and pressing/counter-pressing (Oh, but his defensive headers! And him being an outlet when you’re sat deep!!), an extreme negative in terms of his movement when attacking, an extreme negative in terms of his porous link-up play/passing/lack of skill with the ball, who does one thing: score at unimpressive rates for an Arsenal striker.

There is literally zero argument to be made that he’s been anything more than mediocre in his 4 years and change for Arsenal, which is frankly a generous use of wordage.

“I had Olivier Giroud in the building,” Koeman added. "He would have fitted perfectly, but at the very last moment he decided that he’d rather live in London and stay at Arsenal.

"That was really hard to swallow. You tell me, where you can get a better striker? Lukaku was so important for us, not just because of his goals. He had a certain way of playing as a striker - strong.

"He could hold the ball, he always had an eye for the goal, he was fast. If things were not going well in a game, if we could not play the way we were used to, there was always the option to use the long ball towards him.

"All of a sudden [after Giroud’s decision], we were missing such a player. With Nikola Vlasic and Wayne Rooney, we had attackers who want the ball at their feet.

"When you are struggling as a team with the build-up from the back, and we no longer had the option to kick it long, you know you have a problem